Getting To Know You
by alb33
Summary: Luna goes to watch the Gryffindor Quidditch tryouts, but she's more interested in a certain player than the actual tryouts. Unfortunately, causing him to break his toe probably won't get her a date. Or will it? Entry for the Twin Exchange July Challenge.


**A/N: Twin Exchange July Challenge Entry. My character was Luna Lovegood and my injury was broken toe.**

**As much as I wish I did, I don't own Harry Potter.**

* * *

Luna Lovegood was a lot of things. She was kind, honest, perceptive and smart. She was also different from most of her classmates, although in a good or bad way depended on who you talked to. But while Luna was all of these things, one thing she was not was an avid Quidditch fan.

Sure, she _liked_ Quidditch well enough. She enjoyed watching the Hogwarts matches, liked them a little more when Ravenclaw was playing, and had even gone to the Quidditch World Cup last summer. But next to some people, Ginny for example, Luna's enjoyment of the sport was dimmed in comparison. She understood enough of the sport to know what was going on, but Ginny knew every technicality and always got so into every match. Luna didn't mind, though. She actually thought it was quite amusing to see Ginny get frustrated and yell at the players, her words most likely going unheard. Luna on the other hand watched Quidditch for enjoyment and was able to maintain a healthy stress level throughout the match. Then again, she _always_ kept a healthy stress level.

So when Ginny invited her to go watch the Quidditch tryouts at the beginning of the year, Luna agreed and found herself looking forward to it for a few reasons. Firstly, nobody had ever asked her to do something together before. Secondly, she had never watched Quidditch tryouts before either and thought it would be an interesting experience to see how it was done. She even decided to wear the Gryffindor lion hat that she had made. She had originally planned to wear it to every Gryffindor versus Slytherin match, but she didn't see why she shouldn't wear it to the tryouts.

But perhaps the biggest reason that Luna had agreed to go watch the tryouts, no matter how much she tried to deny it in her mind, was because of Fred Weasley, her only friend's older brother. She had met him and George at the beginning of the year, only a few weeks ago. Luna and Ginny had been sitting out by the lake together when Fred and George had walked by with Lee.

"Hey, Gin, who's your friend?" George had asked.

"Ginny has friends?" Fred had gasped, pretending to be surprised.

"Of course I do," Ginny snapped.

"That's Loony Lovegood," Lee had whispered to Fred and George.

Fred frowned at Lee before turning back to Luna. "You don't seem Loony to me," he said with a smile.

"That's because she's not," Ginny said. "And her name is _Luna_."

"She thinks the air is invested with Noogles," Lee said.

"Nargles," Luna corrected, unable to stop herself.

Lee smirked and even George cracked a smile, but Fred grinned wider. "Well, that's nice," he said.

"You're making fun of me, aren't you? You're not really interested. It's all right. I get that a lot."

"Why would you think that?" Fred asked.

Luna raised her eyebrows. "Everyone makes fun of me except for Ginny. Besides, I'm not stupid. It makes sense that you'd think I was strange. I know who you are and what you do."

"And what would that be?"

"What?"

"What is it exactly that I do?" he smirked.

"You play jokes on people and you're probably playing one on me now by pretending to be interested in Nargles."

"Well you must not know me very well at all then if you think I'd make fun of you."

"No, perhaps you're right," she answered, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "And besides, there is a difference between playing jokes and making fun of people."

"Exactly," Fred said, grinning again. Luna felt her insides twist. He _was_ incredibly good looking. If Luna had been more outgoing and had a clue how to flirt, in other words, more like Ginny, she would have suggested that they she and Fred _do _get to know each other, but of course, with Luna being Luna, the words didn't come out. At least not in enough time.

"Come on, let's go," Lee whined. "We have things to discuss."

"What kind of things?" Ginny asked.

"Nose out, Gin," George said, ruffling her hair. She pulled away and glared at him. George turned to Fred. "Come on, let's get going."

Fred nodded and turned to follow Lee and George. As he walked, he turned around and walked backwards. "Nice to meet you, Luna Lovegood," he said with a wave before turning around again and shoving his hands in his pockets.

"He didn't call me Looney," Luna observed in a whisper.

"Well, no," Ginny shrugged, "I'm actually proud to say that Fred and George don't make fun of anyone. Except sometimes the Slytherins. They play pranks, but they don't like to actually hurt people's feelings. Like you said, there is a difference."

Luna smiled. "There is," she whispered nodding. She glanced over her shoulder at Fred's retreating back before asking Ginny about the Transfiguration homework. Her crush on Fred had developed that very day.

* * *

"I'm surprised you've never tried out for the team before, Ginny," Luna said as the two of them climbed into the stands on the day of the tryouts.

Ginny shrugged. "Well, I couldn't my first year, I didn't feel I was good enough my second year, it was cancelled my third year, and this year the only spot that's open is the Keeper position."

"You don't want to be a Keeper?"

"No, I want to be a Chaser. Chasers get involved in all the action."

"I prefer watching," Luna said. "Out of all of the positions, it's what I'm best at."

"Well, fans are important too," Ginny said seriously. "It's boring without them."

"I agree," Luna said as she adjusted her lion shaped hat.

The two girls watched as Angelina organized the group of potential Keepers into a line while Katie and Alicia tossed the Quaffle back and forth. Fred and George were flying directly in Ginny and Luna's line of vision, hitting a Bludger back and forth with their bats. Luna rested her elbows on her knees and sighed as she watched them. She found that she could watch them all day. Well, more specifically, she could watch _Fred_ all day.

"Oi, knuckleheads!" Angelina shouted to the twins. "We're going to start soon so get down here!"

"Oh, good, they're going to start," Luna said, tapping her hat with her wand. It let out quite a realistic roar. What else could possibly be better to get the tryouts underway?

As good as Luna's intentions were, they didn't exactly go over too well. Fred and George, clearly not expecting the noise, turned to look in her direction and the Bludger George had just hit collided with the toe of Fred's foot. Luna could hear the cracking of a bone breaking from where she was sitting. She felt terrible at once. If she hadn't distracted them, Fred wouldn't have gotten hit.

"Time out!" George yelled, circling to the ground after Fred, who stopped his broom a foot or two above the ground.

"I don't know if I should get off," he said, his face pale and his teeth gritted with pain. "I think my toe's broken."

"You _think_? Fred, I heard it crack. It's broken," George answered. "We'll tell Angelina and we'll get you to the hospital wing. If you can't walk then I can run up and open the window for you to fly in because there's no way I'm carrying you."

"What's going on?" Angelina asked, marching over furiously. "Why'd you call a time out? We haven't even started yet, although heaven knows I've been _trying_ to get started."

"Fred broke his toe," George said.

"No, George broke my toe," Fred corrected with a smirk.

"TheBludger broke his toe," George answered.

"Fair enough," Fred shrugged.

"I don't care how it happened," Angelina said furiously. "You mean to tell me that you broke your toe just before the tryouts where I wanted _every_ member of the team present?"

"Yes," Fred squeaked.

"Potter's already not here because he's in detention and now," she reached up and jabbed Fred in the chest with her finger, "you're going to have to go to the hospital wing and you," she turned to George, "are going to want to go with him because you're attached at the hip."

"No, then we would actually be conjoined twins and it would be practically impossible for us to be on this team right now," George answered.

"Stop being such a wise guy," Angelina growled angrily.

"Anyway," Fred said loudly, "it won't take Madam Pomfrey long to heal my toe. I'll be back before you know it."

"Yes, but you're going to have to go up there and it's going to take time and then you'll have to make your way back. It'll only just put off the tryouts further. Even if it is only for a few minutes. It's valuable time that we'll be wasting!"

"She's starting to sound more and more like Wood every day," George muttered to Fred, who nodded.

"You know, I sort of know how to mend toes," Luna whispered to Ginny.

"You do?" Ginny looked surprised. "Just toes?"

"Well, that's all I've had experience with. You see, my father's broken various toes over the years multiple times and he always has to fix them. When I was younger, I figured I'd pay attention to how he did it because I thought it was normal for people to constantly break their toes."

"So you've never actually fixed a toe before?"

"Well, no, but I've practiced on broken twigs before. I know the general idea and it should work on bones…"

"Good enough," Ginny answered, grabbing Luna's arm and dragging her down the stairs at the back of the stands. She started to her over to where the twins and Angelina were still arguing.

"Ginny, I don't think-," Luna began, feeling a bit nervous. When she had told Ginny she knew how to fix toes, she hadn't been saying it so that she could go fix Fred's toe. Hogwarts had Madam Pomfrey for a reason, and Luna was definitely no Madam Pomfrey.

"Hey!" Ginny yelled as they approached the group. "There's no need to get yourselves all worked up. Luna knows how to fix broken toes."

"You do?" Angelina looked surprised and relieved all at once.

"Well-," Luna began.

"Oh, you're a lifesaver!" Angelina exclaimed.

"Well wait just a moment," Luna managed, holding up her hand. "I've never actually fixed a toe before but like I was explaining to Ginny, I know the general idea and I have actually tried practicing on broken twigs. I don't know if it's the same, but…" she trailed off and shrugged.

"It's worth a shot," Angelina said.

"Er, are you sure?" George asked, looking nervous. He turned to Luna. "No offense, Luna, but I don't want you to make it even worse. I mean, remember when Lockhart tried to fix Harry's arm a few years ago?"

Ginny snorted. "Lockhart was an idiot."

"Fred?" Angelina asked, looking up at her teammate. "What do you think? It's your toe."

Fred took a deep breath. "I honestly don't care who fixes it. All I know is that it hurts and I want to get tryouts started."

"That makes two of us," Angelina muttered. She turned to Luna. "Okay, well, go ahead, give it a go."

Fred flew a bit higher in the air so that his foot was dangling directly in Luna's face. Sticking her tongue between her lips in concentration, Luna held her wand in front of Fred's foot. Suddenly, she lowered her wand and looked up at him. "I think it's best if you took off your shoe. It might work better that way."

"Go ahead, you can do it," he said.

Luna nodded before slowly and carefully removing Fred's shoe and dropping it to the ground. Fred winced but did nothing more to express any discomfort. Luna held up her wand again and took a deep breath. "Episkey!"

With a crack, Fred's toe snapped back into place resulting in a yelp of pain from Fred.

"Better?" Luna asked.

"Yeah, loads!" Fred said, wiggling his toes. "Thanks, Luna!" He paused and looked at her. "By the way, nice hat."

Luna reached up and gently touched her hat. "Are you being sarcastic?"

"No," Fred answered simply.

"It was the reason you were distracted and ended up with a broken toe. Technically, I suppose it's my fault. I'm sorry."

"You're also the reason why my toe is fixed so no harm done," Fred answered.

Luna nodded. "You really like my hat?"

"Of course I do. If you recall I told you a few weeks ago that you must not know me very well if you think I'd make fun of you. From the looks of it, you still don't know me that well if you're assuming I'm making fun of you again." He winked at her.

"Something in your eye?" Luna asked casually, Fred's flirtatious comment going right over her head.

Ginny groaned. "Luna, he's flirting with you."

"Oh!" Luna gasped, turning a light shade of pink. She paused and leaned slightly closer to Ginny. "What should I say back?" she whispered.

Ginny laughed and so did Fred. Apparently he had heard Luna's question, which made her blush again. Next to Fred, Angelina and George were smirking, clearly enjoying themselves. Angelina seemed to have forgotten all about starting tryouts for the time being.

"Tell him you think you know how to fix that problem," Ginny hissed. Then she wrinkled her nose. "I can't believe I'm helping you flirt with my brother."

Luna smiled in appreciation before turning back to Fred and clearing her throat. "I think I know how to fix that problem. Well, I will once Ginny tells me."

Fred chuckled. "Well tell her to hurry up because I'm interested in knowing the solution. Although, I think I know what it is."

"Ooh, do you? What is it?" Luna asked eagerly.

"Might it be a date? You know, so that we actually can get to know each other. Perhaps the Three Broomsticks on the next Hogsmeade trip?"

"I would like that very much!" Luna exclaimed. "No one's ever asked me on a date before!"

"They don't know what they're missing, then," Fred answered, shaking his head as Luna blushed once more.

"Fred, we really need to get back to tryouts," Angelina said, smiling.

"Yeah, come on, lover boy," George snorted, grabbing the tail end of Fred's broom and pulling him backwards.

"Oh!" Luna called after them. "I forgot to mention that you aren't allowed to wear brown. Brown brings bad luck to first dates!"

"I'll keep that in mind!" Fred called back. "See you next Saturday!"

In response, Luna smiled and reached up to tap her hat. It let out another realistic, triumphant roar. This time, though, nobody broke a toe and for that, Luna was grateful.

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**Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review and vote for your favorte challenge entry on the Twin Exchange profile starting on the 20th!**


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